Eco-terrorists: Ready to Kill for Their Cause?

The problem with this case is, of course, that it does not fit the media -- and by extension the administration’s -- narrative. Witness the Department of Homeland Security document “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” which was released shortly after the current administration took power. That document seriously suggested anti-abortion activists and libertarians were as much of a threat to the nation as al-Qaeda. As a Fox News report back in March of 2009 pointed out, the document went so far as to name former presidential candidates Ron Paul and Bob Barr by name.

In fairness, there is a similar document by the DHS which mentions the ALF specifically. As Greg Sargent on the left-wing blog The Plum Line points out:

While this new memo was mentioned tangentially by the Washington Times, reading the whole memo in full shows clearly that a similar approach was employed towards the left and deflates any claims of DHS "bias."

The bias, however, need not be on the part of the DHS specifially. Note the legacy media mentioned the left-wing memo only in passing, while devoting large amounts of time and many column inches to the right-wing memo, associated with stories on the rise of the militia movement. I do believe, but cannot prove, that in a coldly calculated political ploy the administration made sure the right-wing memo got plenty of play.

And that of course, is the point -- the narrative the administration wants people to believe: